Diplomatic Immunity Films was proud to herald the release of their award-winning short film, Knights Templar Secrets Found, on the 1st February 2018, but - for them - the film is just part of the bigger picture.

The Knights Templar are well-known for their secretive nature yet the world is still fascinated by their actions centuries after the Templars ceased to exist. What makes their story all the more fascinating is the degree to which their secrets have been protected – and the extraordinarily high-profile people who have played a part in their protection.

The Knights Templar Secrets Found story may begin with the discovery of a lapel pin in 2016, but it stretches back to Victorian times, falls prey to the fallout of the French Revolution and takes a massive leap further back in time, to Ancient Egypt.

With multi-million selling novels, such as Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’, taking the reader on a realistic, yet entirely fictional, rollercoaster it can be tempting to overlook the very history and legacy of the Knights Templar and the way in which their secrets can be uncovered by sheer chance.

The lapel pin that lies at the heart of both the film and the Knights Templar came to light in 2016 but initial research uncovered that what looked like an 1887 golden Jubilee lapel pin had actually being passed on to Queen Victoria for safekeeping. The question is where did it come from and why had the pin been disguised with a banner that reads “God Save the Queen”?

Merlin Antiquities, the team behind the research, traced the pin one step further back to the basement of the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris. France had revolted almost a century before yet the French Crown jewels had stayed intact until 1887. While many other jewels were destroyed, this lapel pin was saved, disguised and sent to the Queen of England. Gustave Trouvé, French inventor, recognised the true value in the lapel pin and created complicated trio of engravings that the dedicated team at Merlin were able to decode. With every answer to this mystery, more questions emerge – who was Trouvé keeping secrets from centuries after the Templars died out and why did he make Queen Victoria the custodian?

Trouvé’s engravings are rich in Templar symbolism, with the demon Baphomet signposting the underlying secret of the pin – the golden Knight Templar Cross (croix pattee). A miniature splayed cross device, the croix pattee has been crafted from layers of gold/silver, boasts four diamonds and 3 Byzantine/Coptic era styled side-end gold spheres. Already tiny in size, the cross reveals detailed engravings at every angle. What the team at Merlin came to realise was that croix pattee is also, actually, a map of the legendary Knight Templar excavations at Solomon’s Temple.

As the years have passed, the map and the pin have been so well protected that their true meaning and existence had been forgotten, until it was discovered in an antique store safe. While the legend of the Knights excavation of Temple Mount has been shrouded in secrecy, the Knights Templar have nevertheless ensured that they have passed their secrets down through the ages, using coding methodologies that have only truly been discovered by the rest of the world in the last 100 years. Merlin’s research demonstrates just how far ahead of the curve the Knights Templar were and, even though Merlin’s findings challenge accepted opinions, their evidence shows that it may be time to revisit what we know – or think we know – about the Knights Templar.

The team behind the research and the short film, Martin Brighty, said “This could be the time to better understand what the Knights Templar had been trying to protect centuries ago – and that lapel pins, pieces of jewellery, paintings, etching and so forth may hold the key to those secrets. What is also truly fascinating is why Trouvé went to such great lengths to protect it? Why couldn’t he reveal his findings 1887 and what was he so scared of? Undertaking the research and making the film has been a labour of love for me but it has confirmed that this is the time to continue investigating the mysteries that surround the Knights Templar.”

The Knights Templar Secret Found is now a laurel awarded short film and was launched at the beginning of February 2018. The film has been distributed by US-based film distributor GoDigital (Distribber). The Knights Templar Secrets Found can be viewed on iTunes, Google, and Amazon Platforms.